Being a woman is curse enough. Being a woman who is captain of a pirate ship brings on a whole new meaning to terror on the high seas.Captain Joelle Quint buys a devilishly handsome slave claiming to be a cartographer. She believes he can help her decipher a map her father left her when she was a child. Though she doesn't know what the map leads to, she has spent years trying to unlock its secrets. Sloan Ricker has no intention to remain a slave-not again. He despises the fiery red-head, no matter how luscious and intriguing she is. But when she offers his freedom in exchange for solving the mystery of her map, 'tis a proposal he cannot deny himself. Besides, as much as he hates it, his curiosity and desire for the captain is growing in swells and bounds. Amidst battles with the Royal Navy, vengeful ghosts of the past, and her first mate's jealousy, Joelle also fights her growing lust. And Ricker struggles with his need for freedom and making his beautiful master his slave. To get what they both long for-answers, independence, love-Joelle and Ricker must relinquish control to one another, or die trying.